While in the Toledo area interviewing voters about the presidential race a few weeks before the
election, I tossed out an unrelated question to many of them.

Gov. John Kasich is exploring whether to lease the Ohio Turnpike to private investors to raise
money for highway and bridge work across the state. Do you think that’s a good idea?

The answer was nearly unanimous — a deafening “Hell no!”

At the Barn Restaurant in Delta, where farmers, mostly Republicans, convene their caffeine
congress weekday mornings, any notion of leasing
theirturnpike to a private entity was swatted away like a gnat.

“They ain’t going to fix the road,” said Dallas Whaley, 70. “They’ll take the money and
run."

Heaney continued: “It’s a transportation jewel for commerce as well as personal use. Look at
what happened after Indiana privatized its turnpike. It deteriorated rapidly.”

Standing next to Heaney, Karen Shanahan, 66, a retired logistics specialist, felt compelled to
weigh in: “If they give it to a private company, who’s going to profit? They’ll keep the profit and
not plow any of it into the road.”

Across northern Ohio, today’s reaction to privatizing the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike is the same as
it was in 2006 when J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, proposed leasing it
for 99 years to generate up to $6 billion. There are many reasons Blackwell lost to Democrat Ted
Strickland, but his turnpike proposal stands out in northern Ohio, where he won just three of the
32 counties.

Since its opening in 1955, northern Ohioans not only have come to depend on the turnpike, they’v
e become emotionally attached to it. While truckers and other interstate travelers provide a
healthy portion of the $271 million in revenue the turnpike will take in this year, locals find the
toll road convenient for short trips — the average for a passenger car is 48 miles. It easily is
Ohio’s best-maintained and most-reliable interstate.

Setting aside the merits of leasing the turnpike, Kasich should know this: If he goes through
with it, he risks pocking his 2014 re-election bid with potholes. Turnpike privatization could be
the deal-breaker for Kasich in northern Ohio that opposition to the auto bailout was for Mitt
Romney.

Even so, one of Kasich’s admirable traits — and a key reason his approval rating now tops 50
percent — is that he appears to be a leader who will subjugate political expediency to doing what
he perceives is right. And leasing the turnpike might be the right thing to do.

After putting transportation budgeting on an honest footing by realistically aligning future
construction needs with available money, Kasich realized the state will lack billions for crucial
highway and bridge projects across the state.

Facing cuts in federal funding and declining gas-tax revenue, Kasich has been laying the
groundwork for leasing the turnpike as a funding source.

As much as he wants to do so, he must be prepared to walk away from the wrong deal. It already
appears that he has lowered his expectations, indicating in an August interview with
The Dispatch that leasing the turnpike could bring in “more than $1 billion,” rhetorically
low-balling the $3 billion estimate he had tossed out a year earlier.

The state has hired a consultant for $2.85 million to help it sort through its myriad options
with the turnpike. A report is due soon. If Kasich decides to go forward with privatization, he’ll
need legislative approval. He also will need to avoid the contractual traps that ensnared Indiana
in its questionable $3.8 billion, 75-year toll road lease to private investors.

Kasich also should prepare for a political backlash from northern Ohio voters who won’t be
pleased if he privatizes
their turnpike.